THE HARRIS FAMILY OF DERBYSHIRE- PIONEERS OF THE SWAN VALLEY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA FROM 1833 Part 1

This is the story of a branch of the Strelley family…..the Harris family … a branch as adventurous and brave as their forebears who fought for kings and queens. The Harris  family were pioneers in a colony only  4 years old.    Lucy Strelley and Joseph Harris’ 6 children were born with silver spoons in their mouth around the time  of Queen Victoria’s birth. Their father had a medical practice in Bakewell England – their roots were firmly in English traditions but they grew up in the frontier of Western Australia exploring and developing land sometimes in the face of extreme adversity.  This land was at the other end of the earth. This story tells of their hardships, explorations, discoveries, friendships and passion for their new home. (It will be on the blog in several parts )

Lucy Strelley came from a large family. They were a relatively rich and famous family of Strelleys who descended more recently from the Strelleys of Oakerthorpe in England. Lucy, the youngest child of Robert Strelley and Elizabeth Clayton’s  eight  children was  born in 1788 and baptised in Pentrich, Derbyshire.  Her future husband Joseph C. Harris was born in 1789 in nearby Bakewell, Derby and had trained to become a Doctor .  She married in England in the early 1800s and proceeded to have 6 children- 3 boys and three girls. At the age of 45 when her youngest child was around 1 she and Joseph travelled 8998 miles (14481 km) to the pioneer settlement of Swan Valley in the  Colony which later became known as  Western Australia.

Prior to coming to Western Australia Joseph had been a surgeon and businessman in Bakewell Derby as this extract from Stephen Glover’s History of Derby reveals.

“The Bakewell Dispensary was established by some of the principal inhabitants, under the patronage of the Dukes of Devonshire and Rutland, and the Earl of New burgh, and other noblemen and gentlemen. It will undoubtedly prove of infinite benefit to the lower orders of society. Great praise is due to Michael Atkinson, Esq. Dr. Reid, and Mr Harris, surgeon, for their exertions in the good cause. The meeting for the establishment of this institution was held on the I8th of September, 1828, the Rev. F. Hodgson chairman, and on the 18th of October following the Rules and Regulations were adopted ; Sir W. C. Bagshaw and Sir F. S. Darwin accepting the appointment of honorary consulting physicians. Dr. Reid was appointed physician in ordinary, Mr. Joseph Harris, surgeon, and Mr. T. Mills, dispenser.”

Why the interest in establishing in Australia?  The British Government was in fear of the French intention to start a colony on Australia’s west coast and the vacant land of Western Australia was attracting other nation’s interests. These were the early reasons for settlement in  WA, that and the need to claim the whole of the Australian continent for the British. Settlement of the Swan River began in 1831 and very little progress was made in the early years. It was so far from England and indeed from the Sydney settlement. The settlement was dependent on the supplies of food, equipment, supplies and information from occasional visiting ships which were often delayed. Early attempts at cultivation were slow and often unsuccessful. The 1500 population of this tiny settlement was dependent on the arrival of vessels who took advantage of the shortages and put up their prices thereby increasing the cost of living in the Swan district.

Arrival in Western Australia 1833

  SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. Arrival the 27 Ultimo. The Cygnet, Captain John Rolls from London, left Portsmouth the 10th Sept., Cabin Passengers,-Mr. and Mrs. Harris, and six children ;-Messrs Barnard Clarkson, Lenox Bussell, two Miss Bussell's, Mrs. Luke Leake, Miss Kingham, Mr. Shenton, Mr. Robert Souper. Steerage-Messrs. John Hardey, Charles Clarkson, Edward Sears, Mr. and Mrs. Kingsford, and daughter, Messrs. George Coldstock, Edward Hodgson, H. C. Harris, George Gladman, William Walker, Edward Bowel, George Lagenby, E. Mc Noe, and two children. Servants to Mr Harris, Meloy, Swine, Ann Hunt, Servants to Mr. Bussell, Phobe Bower, Emma Mould.

Passenger List Perth Gazette 02 February 1833 

rly pioneer

As descendents of  the  Swan River pioneers we could become members of an exclusive organization

The Harris’ Tent Sale

Noticed amongst the imports on the incoming “Cygnet” was 172 packages belonging to J Harris. The following was advertised in the Perth Gazette soon after the Harris family arrived in the colony. Joseph was prepared to do well.  Their early accommodation was a tent.

TO BE SOLD
by private Contract,
at Mr. Joseph Harris's tent
NEAR THE JETTY PERTH,
---000---

A great variety of articles imported per Cygnet, of which a printed list is now ready for delivery.

Mr Harris being on the point of moving to his location on the Upper Swan, the Sale will only continue tor a few days, and for Cash.                                             Perth, 22nd February 1833.

Government Grant of land - Town allotment W36 to Joseph Harris August 1834

Joseph Harris (1789-1846) arrived in the colony of Western Australia aged 44 in January 1833 on Cygnet with wife and 6 children plus servants. He wore many hats in taking up positions and opportunities in this vast colony. He was Acting Colonial Surgeon by October 1835 and later was replaced by John Ferguson as Surgeon General who later went on to buy Yule's winery.  He became an agriculturalist and did a spot of exploration on the side.

The Harris family was at a decided advantage- the more adults who arrived in the colony the more land was able to be applied for or allocated. At 22 and 15 their two oldest boys Joseph and William  were old enough to begin work in the colony and take advantage of what was offering. The colony had not been settled, as in the Eastern states, with shiploads of convicts but was working at building the population with quality people from the British Empire and other parts rather  than relying on building the numbers with imported criminals.    

One wonders at the reaction of  Lucy and Joseph  having arrived after a 6 week journey and being faced with  the food shortages and the real potential for a famine in that early settlement. Problems existed with the allocation of land grants, unsuitable applicants and the cost of providing the capital required for investment and transportation of people, workers and animals. Their first year in the settlement was troubled by high prices for food due to shortages and lack of crops amongst other things. In addition the local native Aboriginals had been aggressive due to poor treatment by some of the settlers. Luckily later in the year a plentiful crop brought the cost of living down.

They had arrived in the in early 1833 colony just 4 years after the colony’s settlement. The following account by Captain Fremantle about Perth and Fremantle when he returned to the colony after three years, in September 1832 says it all.

“ I was much disappointed at the appearance of the capital as it does not appear to have made much progress, very few houses having been built and many of those scarcely worthy of the name, being mostly of wood and very small.... Perth has not kept pace with Fremantle, as the latter has many pretty tolerable houses and several are in progress, and in spite of its sandy and unpromising appearance at landing, I have no doubt if the colony continues of its being in time a place of consequence.”

According to Captain Fremantle the price of food in the colony in 1832 was:

Mutton 2 shillings per pound

Kangaroo 1 shilling 8 pence a pound

Flour 10d

Butter 5s a pound

Labour is expensive and difficult to get: A craftsman was paid 10s 6d per day.

The Harris’ received a Government grant of land - Perth Lots W37 and W86 in 1834. Joseph was also allocated 2560 acres and took 480 acres in the Helena District and 2080 acres in the interior.  (Yule’s land is seen as a neighbouring allotment.)

Initially Guildford was an undeveloped village, composed chiefly of servants and others to whom small grants had been made. Beyond the town where the Harris’ settled, at the junction of the Helena and the Swan, were many of the principal selections. The soil was good and the situation admirable. Here their neighbours were Captains Stirling and Meares, Messrs. Walcott and Wells, and many others. Higher up the river were the grants of Dr. Harris, Messrs. Yule, Leake, Lennard, Brockman, Mackie, Irwin, and others. These hard working gentlemen, through their labour made a success of their holdings and a renewed spirit of confidence flowed though the settlement. Harris reputedly lived at 'Strelley' property on the Swan which would have been named in honour of his wife Lucy’s famous family and the town where the Strelley family originally hailed from.

During his time in WA he also explored the land- accompanying Hillman on his Hotham and William River expedition in January 1835.  Besides establishing his “Strelley Farm” on the banks of the Swan River he was interested in expanding into sheep farming as an industry which gave better rewards and profits than tilling the soil for wheat and promises to feed the pioneers.

For many years he was Honorary Secretary of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society.  The following letter to the Editor from Joseph was published in The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal on Saturday 31 October 1840. It details his exploration for good tracts of water.

Letter to the Editor Perth Gazette Oct 28  1840

 

Harris was on the lookout for minerals, coal etc. The Strelleys owned iron mines back in Derbyshire so this would have been of interest.  One close neighbour –the Gregorys- reported that  a  mass of iron had been discovered on the property called Rainworth in 1843.  Harris wrote in support of their find. “Derbyshire is one of the best ironstone districts in England. … The iron ore in Mr Gregory’s land is ascertained to be more than 6 feet thick… such a bed of ore in England and lying so near the surface would be worth three or four times the sum I have named”  (200 pounds per acre).  In several other parts of the colony Iron Ore is found lying on the surface. 

In another part of the letter he wrote “We have however no good boring tackle in the colony.”  Iron ore is a big industry in Western Australia in 2013. Several years ago Lang Hancock and his daughter discovered great tracts of ore  in the Pilbara. His daughter Gina Rinehart is now the richest woman in the world!! 

We know from the following advertisement in 1843 that Joseph’s land was 12 miles from Perth and well suited for summer gardens and full of springs.  As the road to Toodyay was now passing through the estate Joseph saw it as suitable for a Travelers Inn and was offering 30 acres of its land for lease. 

The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal  Saturday 25 March 1843

This shows the growth and improvement to the Strelley allotment. Land in Perth needs improvement as it is traditionally sandy. The waters of the Swan would have helped fertility. The land was advertised for lease for a number of years by Joseph Strelley  Jnr after his father’s death and until his mother’s departure for  England in the late 1850s.

Dr Harris was heavily involved in the development of the colony  and was appointed Acting Colonial Surgeon in Dr Collie's place in (October) 1835 and again in 1843. Hitherto he had been living on his grant at Strelley on Upper Swan but moved to Perth and was appointed permanently as Colonial Surgeon in 1845. 

In 1839-40 he and his son were the first to overland sheep from Albany to Williams where he also had land. He was Secretary of the Western Australian Agricultural Society 1841.
In 1842 he was appointed surgeon to the Australind Company and journeyed overland to Leschenault in company with James Drummond who was on a collecting trip. 

Dr Harris died 13 years after arriving at the colony at age 57 on 25 May 1846 from a stroke thus ending his contribution to the settlement.  His two older sons were well equipped to carry on supporting their mother, sisters and son. The story continues......